End of the Rainbow
by MissDevon
Summary: Set in my "Last Name Verse," Clint finds out the real reason that Natalie left Landview as aburtly as she did from Kim and then goes to have it out with his brother, meanwhile Natalie and the NCIS team finish up a case. preguel to this story to follow
1. The Greatest Words She Never Heard

**End of the Rainbow**

_(Last Name verse)_

Kim knocked on the door to Clint's office at the mansion, shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot. Part of her wondered if she should tell him about what she had over heard at the Buenos Dias Dinner.

As Clint called for her to come in, she threw back her hair. She took stock of the fact that Bo and Nora hadn't realized she was there to pick up an order for them as they discussed their latest case: the strangling of a young red headed woman by Charlie Banks. The fact that they let it slip that he had been drunk and had probably mistaken the young woman for the missing Natalie from behind had shocked her so much that she had left without their order.

"Where's our lunch?" Clint asked as he took off his glasses and placed them on his desk, "I thought you were picking it up?"

"Ummm, Clint, I don't know how … I mean… I overheard something that I think you should know about."

"OK…" he said leaning back in the chair that had been his father's: "let me hear it."

"I don't know how to soften the blow of this one…" she admitted uneasily.

"Just say it."

"OK. I saw Nora and Bo there. I overheard part of their conversation. It had to do with why Natalie took off the way she did. Or at least I think it did…" she rambled.

"Natalie took off because she was angry at me for… well, you know. And at Vikki for a fight they had," Clint replied dismissively.

Kim shook her head: "it's more than that. You know about how Charlie's being charged with trying to kill that young girl?"

"Heard about it," Clint responded looking at the brunette questioningly.

"She wasn't the first person he attacked from what they said," Kim told him. "Nora was trying to plan out how to make sure that Eli didn't find out that Charlie had attacked Natalie the day she left."

"No way," Clint said a touch of anger in his voice. "Vikki would've… Bo…"

"She went to file a report. Bo and Nora wouldn't do it."

"They WHAT?!?!" Clint demanded jumping to his feet and heading towards the door.

"Bo was… he kept saying how guilty he felt, but Nora… she said they did the right thing. That Charlie was drunk and it seemed Natalie was overreacting…" she said chasing after him.

"I'll give them overreacting," Clint said as he stormed out of the house.

"Crap," Kim muttered. "This is not going to go well…"

"Not what have you done?" Renee asked the younger woman as she descended the steps.

"Told Clint the truth about why Natalie left town," Kim said as she turned to meet the former madam's disdain with a glare of her own. "Apparently Bo and Nora couldn't be bothered to file a report of Charlie choking her…"

"Oh dear," Renee muttered, "No matter who he goes after this isn't going to go well. You get Tea on the phone. I'll see about making sure enough bail money is on hand if needed"

* * *

Bo opened the door to his room at the Palace and stared at his angry brother a second before his brother's fist connected with his jaw. "You let that drunk get away with putting his hands on _my daughter?_" Clint demanded as he pushed his way into the room.

Bo looked up from where he was sprawled on the floor: "I'm not even going to ask how you found out."

"Not from you or Vikki that's for damned sure!"

Bo pushed to his feet, feeling his brother had had a right to knock him down for this one: "We thought that she was over reacting…"

"We or _Nora?_ What she take your brains when she took your balls?" Clint demanded.

Bo rolled his eyes: "there's no need to be crude especially when you're the one sleeping with a girl young enough to be your granddaughter."

"You want to throw accusations around we can go round and round, little brother, but that's not why I'm here. You _allowed_ Charlie to get away with choking Natalie and that's why she's gone."

"That's not the only reason. And I didn't allow anything," Bo told him.

"Right that's why you're helping Nora try to cover up the information!"

Bo cursed under his breathe, he knew and had told Nora that their conversation at the dinner should've waited to a more private setting: "her voice was scratchy, but the bruises hadn't shown then."

"THEN?!?!"

"She got a restraining order from another police department," Bo admitted. "The pictures show…" he shook his head. "We got statements from Brody and Jess. Brody pulled him off of her. They said it was nothing.

It seemed like nothing…" Bo tried to explain. "Truth is, I wanted it to be nothing. Her over reacting…"

"So you did nothing? Where is my daughter now, Bo? Huh? Who does she have to go to when Charlie pleads out, and we know that Nora will plead him out because he was drunk and because it was Natalie and not Jess he was targeting."

"Clint…"

"Don't Bo. I thought the worse thing you could do to me was steal my wife, but this?" Clint shook his head. "You better know how damned lucky you are that I didn't have the time to grab Pa's riffle."

"You know how much Natalie means to me. I wouldn't want anything to happen to her."

"Well, you have a hell of a way of showing it!"

Bo glared at Clint, now angry over the accusations. He had done his job as best he could given the information he had and the idea that he hadn't because of Nora burned him: "I was more of a father to that girl than you ever were…" he said without thinking.

The comment was met by another fist to his face. Standing over his brother's sprawled body Clint glared down at him: "You stopped that when you turned your back on her and never forgave her after Nash died. Nora was right about one thing, you are an unforgiving bastard. And know this, had it been your child--- your daughter--- in her place I wouldn't have hesitated. I wouldn't have questioned. I would've gone out and grabbed the bastard who hurt her and strung him up.

Seems like I have anyway," Clint raged. "Stay away from me and mine Bo. You hurt them again, you will pay. And if Natalie never comes home again I will make sure that you pay and pay dearly…"

* * *

Natalie stood in the corner of the house with McGee and Ziva as Gibbs rocked the baby they were returning to its desperate mother in his arms. Natalie smiled sadly as Tony handcuffed the father for his part in the kidnapping. From her place she saw Gibbs lips moving slowly: "What is he singing?" Ziva wondered.

"Daddy's Little Girl," Tim said with ease.

Natalie looked at the man sideways as Ziva raised an eyebrow: "I don't believe I know that song," the Israeli woman said.

"It's an American song. Most fathers sing it to their little girls," Natalie told her.

"So your father, he sung it to you then?"

"No," Natalie sighed. "My biological dad wasn't around when I was little. The people who raised me…" she shook her head as Gibbs came over to them.

"You guys ready to roll?" he asked.

"Sure boss," McGee and Ziva said in unison.

"Good, you two head back together I'll drive Balsom here back."

"Got it," they said as they headed out.

Gibbs looked over to his wife: "What were you talking about?" he asked as they walked out the door.

"What you were singing. How Ziva and I had no one to sing it to us as kids," she admitted.

"Don't expect me to sing it to you now," Gibbs joked as he opened the passenger side door for her.

"Just promise that if we ever have kids and we ever have a girl you'll sing it to her," she told him.

Gibbs tensed as she closed the door and he rounded the car: "You ok, Jet?"

"Yeah."

"Right. Sore subject," Natalie sighed as he looked out the window.

Gibbs started the car as they remained in an uncomfortable silence. At a light, Gibbs looked over to her: "I'll sing it. Just not Mockingbird. That was Kelly's song."

"All right," Natalie replied.

"But there's plenty of time to talk about it later, right?"

"Yeah. No rush," Natalie commented as a horn sounded behind them: "except maybe for the car behind us since the light changed."

"Right," Gibbs laughed. "So tell me your thoughts on this case…"


	2. A Ray of Hope, A Shining Star

Chapter 2

Nora used her keycard to enter the suite of the Palace Hotel she was sharing with her ex husband, the thought that they really needed to find a place of their own playing on her mind as she threw her purse and coat onto the sofa in the room. "Bo is Matthew back from therapy yet?" she called out.

At the sound of her voice, Bo cursed under his breathe, he really wasn't up for her right now. Why the hell hadn't he just gone to Rodi's or Rex's for a while--- oh that was right, the bruised face would need explanations. Ones he wasn't in the mood to give his niece's ex with a hero complex and certainly not her brother. "No. Rachel called and said it was running late," he said as he came out of the other room.

"Oh, well..." she sighed as she looked over a letter from the school then up to him. "What happened to you?"

"Clint," Bo responded easily.

Nora shook her head furiously as she grabbed for her coat: "let's go."

"Where?"

"To the station. You're making a report and he's not getting away with this this time!"

"Oh, like Charlie did when he strangled Natalie?" Bo demanded, causing the red head to stop in her tracks. "Yeah. He found out," he continued as she turned to face him, shock on her face: "Told you it wasn't a good idea to be talking about it at the diner and as far as I'm concerned I damned well deserved the black eye and swollen jaw and probably a hell of a lot more for not listening to her."

"We both agreed that she was overreacting," Nora snarked as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Clearly something she gets from her father."

"You think those pictures from Pine Valley that accompanied the order were _overreacting _Nora?" Bo asked his disappointment in her clear.

"Those were taken hours afterwards, who knows what she was up to or who she ran into on her way there. That's our…"

"You're what? Your defense for cutting him a deal?" Bo wondered. "My niece was choked and I did nothing and some innocent girl was almost killed because of that."

"At least you don't see Natalie as being the innocent victim in all of this," Nora almost flippantly as she went to sit down.

"Nora…" Bo started warningly.

"The man's grieving his son," Nora argued from the couch: " A son who died protecting her, I might add. And what was Natalie doing? Going out and partying. We both know she didn't do that when John 'died.'"

"I think that saids more about Jared and Natalie's relationship then it does her."

"For Pete's sake, Bo, the girl has a self destructive streak a mile long. Its amazing she didn't come back married to someone she just picked up in a club!"

"And than, what? Charlie would've been right to do it?" Bo asked. "Nora, sometimes I really don't understand you. You were out for blood when Cole caused the accident that paralyzed Matthew, then a talk with Marty and all was right with the world because he was _hurting _and he was _using."_

"This has nothing to do with Matthew and you know it."

"Doesn't it? Doesn't the fact that you let Cole off lightly make you feel like you have to do the same with Charlie? Did it for a friend's son, why not a friend's husband?" he asked coldly.

"Don't go there, Bo."

"He could've killed her!"

"She was fine," Nora replied dismissively. "You saw that with your own eyes when she was spitting fire at us. It was a family misunderstanding gone too far," she rationalized.

"And someone else paid for it," Bo pointed out, knowing full well that if Eli found out about what happened to Natalie the Police Department would be pulled into the civil suit the girl and her family were planning against Charlie.

"Besides, it's not like Cole didn't pay for the accident. He almost lost Star and Hope while he was undercover."

"He should've been in jail!"

"Bo…"

"I'm not having this fight with you Nora. Not again. You know how I feel about what we did when it came to Natalie. You know damned good and well I agree with my brother: that if it had been Jess…"

Nora interrupted: "Jessica wouldn't lie about something like that."

"No, but her alters just might. Same as they would try to kill her mother and sister," Bo shot back as he headed to the bedroom. "Stay out of my way for a while. I need time to think."

"We have dinner plans with Rachel, Ben, and Matthew."

"Tell them I'm feeling sick to my stomach. It's the truth…"

* * *

Kim looked into the office as Clint stared at the mantel: "well, at least you didn't get arrested," she commented softly as she came into the room, pulling the door shut behind her.

"Not for lack of trying," Clint remarked as he turned and held up his hand to her.

"Your brother didn't even fight back?" she wondered as she took note of his face even as she cupped his hand in both of hers.

"No," Clint admitted. "Said somethings, but other than that…" he shook his head. "I think that actually makes it worse."

"Anything I can do?" Kim wondered, surprising herself that she actually did want to help make him feel better.

"My family's falling apart. My daughter's disappeared. Her mother is still with the man who hurt her. Her sister covered for him… no don't think there's anything anyone can do right now."

* * *

Gibbs and Natalie stepped off the elevator at NCIS headquarters, both caught up in their own thoughts. From the upper level, Leon Vance watched them. He saw the slump in Natalie's shoulders as if she carried the weight of the world on them, and although he knew cases involving children were always hard on Gibbs, he had a feeing this one was especially hard on the new Mrs. Gibbs. "Balsom, my office," he called down.

Sighing, Natalie looked up and nodded then looked over to Gibbs: "duty calls, I guess."

"Well, Vance does anyway," he joked.

"Hey, at least I get out of the paperwork for a while," she remarked quietly.

"I'll give it to Tony. He gave you too much of a hard time on this one."

"I'm the newbie, remember? They're supposed to give me a hard time. It's in the rules somewhre, even if not yours" she shot back before heading towards the stairs and director Vance.

From where he stood, Gibbs watched the black man escort her towards his office, a slight bit of worry growing in his gut, but it wasn't the type to mean something was hinky. Just that he was missing something. "Guy's in questioning waiting for you Boss," Tony said as he bounded into the room and went to his desk to start pulling on his suit jacket.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Hot date," Tony remarked.

"Think again. You have paperwork to do," Gibbs told him as he started towards interrogation.

"Give it to the newbie, she's gotta learn to do it sometime."

"She's with Vance. You're here. You're doing it," Gibbs called back over his shoulder. "Oh, and Dinozzo, she does the paperwork better then you ever did, so maybe she should be teaching you how to do it rather then the other way around…"

Dejected over the loss of his date and his boss's rebuke, Tony deflated and fell back into his chair. So the newbie was a quick study with the paperwork, he thought tiredly, didn't mean he couldn't do it better. In fact he was going to prove to Gibbs just how wrong he was and how well he could do the report.  
Straightening, Tony turned his computer back on and got to work on the report that needed to be done as if Gibbs was behind him and had given him a headslap...

* * *

Natalie sat uncomfortably under Vance's gaze as she accepted the cup of coffee he offered her. "Did I do something wrong?" she wondered.

"No," Vance admitted. "Just figured with your history this case had to be hard on you."

Natalie swallowed: "Yeah, I'm sure everyone's wondering why I did the DNA tests to make sure the baby really. . ." she stopped short and took a drink from the cup in her shaky hand.

"We all have cases that bother us more than others. You'll get to know the other team members hot buttons the longer you're here. But I figured this hit closer to home then most kidnapping cases would."

"Because a parent was invovled? The doctor too?" Natalie asked as she leaned forward and placed the cup and saucer on the desk. "Well, technically my mother wasn't invovled it was one of her alters. Dr. Balsom… let's not even go there…"

"You know I've read and reread your case files from Landview and the FBI…"

"I didn't. But I'm sure you have a point there somewhere."

"How did Roxy Balsom not know? And if your sister isn't her daughter…"

"Then what happened to the baby that Roxy had?" Natalie finished for him. "Something I've wondered over the years myself. But you don't talk to Roxy about it. Not about that. Not about Mitch…" she shook her head. "My Bro--- her son, Rex was fathered by Mitch, I guess it would go to reason that her daughter could've been too. Maybe she's left her out there because she doesn't want him to go after her."

"Or maybe she already knows where she is and is in contact with her," Vance said.

Natalie raised an eyebrow at that: "You didn't just call me in here to talk about how the case affected me, did you?"

Vance smirked: "you're quick. I'll give you that. Although I was worried about how you took this, I don't normally check on my agents and their mental status on hot button cases. I leave that to your husband and Dr. Mallard. However, you are a different case in many ways."

"What do you want?"

Vance pulled out a file from inside a desk drawer: "read it, take it in, and then tell me what you think. What _you _want to do with it?"

"What is it?" Natalie asked taking it from him.

Vance leaned forward: "the way to get you over your problems with kidnapping cases and perhaps to bring down Mitch Lawrence once and for all…"


	3. Deflection, Deception, & Cowgirls Do Cry

Hopefully the Tony/Natalie interaction in the later part will redeem me for part one. Wasn't meaning to mess with Tony, but I do love when Gibbs takes him down a notch or two for being too cocky and think he would do it for his wife in a heartbeat. Also think Natalie would have his number pretty fast...

**Chapter 3**

Gibbs entered the house to hear pots banging in the kitchen, frowning he headed towards the sounds: "how'd you sneak by me?" he asked Natalie as he leaned against the doorframe.

"Carefully," she shot back tensely as she moved to the stove and stirred the sauce she was making. "I didn't make a new pot yet," she warned her husband as he poured himself a cup of coffee left over from the morning's batch. "Riiiight, since when has that stopped you?" she muttered as she moved to the refrigerator and started to pull out what else she needed for dinner.

"Your mood didn't improve after talking to Vance, should I be surprised?" he parried.

"Whose doing the paperwork? Better not be on my desk in the morning or you're going to have one long ass day with no payoff tomorrow night," she shot right back as she went about cutting up vegetables for what she was making for dinner.

"DiNozzo's working on it," he replied calmly.

Natalie rolled her eyes: "that's not exactly reassuring."

Pushing away from the doorframe, Gibbs smirked: "told him I'd have you giving him lessons on how to fill it out if he didn't get it right."

"Great, one more reason for Alden to hate me and ride me," she said as she dumped the cuttings into a bowl.

"You going to tell me why you call him that?"

"You going to tell me the other 40 some odd rules you need me to 'learn?'"

"Nope."

"Then I guess you have your own answer there," Natalie said as she moved back to the refrigerator.

"You want help?"

"Did I ask for it?" she asked as she peered back at him around the refrigerator door.

"Never do, do you?" Gibbs sighed. "Abby road you pretty hard…"

"Now he saids," Natalie replied as she slammed the door and headed back to the island. "I could've used that concern in her lab while you where handing her Caf-Pows, not our kitchen."

"So this isn't case related?"

"The infamous gut tell you that?" she demanded.

Gibbs fought the urge to roll his eyes: "what did Vance do?'

Natalie laughed at him, "Abby's your favorite at work. Not me. Go bother her if you want to know what you can fix in the labs, office, or MTAC, though I doubt you'd have a clue where to start."

"Care to fill me in?"

"Nope," she said evenly. "You want to find out you'll figure it the hell out."

"You weren't kidding about that self destructive streak of yours, were you?"

Forcing a smile, Natalie went to the sink and opened the cabinent under it: "you want to know about it, figure it out without fishing," she told him as she turned, grabbed the bowl and tossed its contents into the garbage can. Slamming the door shut with her foot she glared at him: "fix yourself dinner, work on your damn boat, I really don't care.  
I'm getting the hell out of here.  
And no, it doesn't have to do with the case or the thing we don't address or won't…" she said as she brushed pass him and into the hallway to grab her purse and keys. "Don't wait up…" she called after herself to a bemused Gibbs.

* * *

Clint sat looking at a picture of Natalie before slamming it down.  
He wanted to know where his daughter was and what she was up to.  
He wanted to be sure that she was protected.

Instead, he had sent her running out of his office with only a verbal resignation and no idea on how to find her or contact her, since she had had her cell phone disconnected, and now he knew why.

He had sent her into a trap laid out for her by a drunk Charlie Banks and was covered up by his family, such as it were.

Cursing, Clint got to his feet and headed out to the stables to clear his head….

* * *

Jessilynn Ramsey shut the report she was reading and put it to the side as her husband entered their home and their eldest daughter, Eve, went running to her father. Smiling, she watched him pick her up in his arms and twirl her around, the sound of her daughter's laughter filtering through the room to her. "How'd the conference in Boston go?" Chris Ramsey asked as he put his daughter down and headed towards the couch.

"How does it ever go?" his wife asked with a twinkle in her eyes as she lifted up for his kiss while Eve went back to playing with her dolls on the floor. "Mitch got away again, and Novak got a couple of answers out of the suspect by playing his usual game.  
Donnelly has nothing new though, although I think he's up to something. He's was more obnoxious then usual on the whole thing with me. Pushier too. Joe thinks that means another agency might have an angel on this" she sighed.

Sitting next to her, he started to undo his tie: "so where does that put us this time?"

"Without other agency interference, same as the last ten," she sighed. "I'm really starting to hate this," she added as she leaned into his embrace and asked: "So, my practice still standing?"

"Not for lack of trying by the Drakes," he sighed into her head. "Twins asleep?" he asked looking at the ceiling, as if he could see through it and into their room.

"Yeah. Nice deflection, by the way," she laughed pulling slightly away. She knew he hated the trips and the separation from the kids. The memories it brought up for him, as well as the fact that he knew at any time they could all be forced to disappear from his life- the new life she had built for herself once Donnelly, Joe Novak, and Robert Scorpio had gotten her out of one of Mitch's labs- and start over yet again. But she decided to ignore that the same as he did by pretending that it wasn't a possibility, and at least for know it wasn't, so she went back to her chiding about her psychiatric practice: "I get that she's all old friends with Loosey Lucy and Kevin the Killer Collins, but I need to be able to do my job with out the Goblin under minding me."

"Shouldn't have let her know you and Patrick had a thing in the past," Chris suggested with a shrug and teasing glint in his eyes.

"Jealous?"

"Well, she is," he replied dryly.

Rolling her eyes, Jessilynn got to her feet: "and Patrick and I didn't have a thing. He slept with a friend of mine… or the old me… can we not talk about this?  
I'd like not to have to think about the case for a little while at least."

"Not a case, little Ms. WSB, it's your-our- life."

"No, my life is being lived by a replacement me. The case…" she exhaled wrapping her arms around her waist: "I hate this, you know."

"Yeah…" Chris sighed as Eve came running over to him: "Daddy will you tell me a story and sing me to sleep tonight?"

"It is someone's bedtime," his wife hinted.

Shaking his head, Chris bent down: "so you were just waiting up for me, huh? OK then let's get you to bed," he told her with a smile.

"Go brush your teeth," Jessilynn reminded her.

"Nice deflection," Chris laughed as his daughter ran out of the room and towards the stairs.

"She missed you. We all did. You know I hate having to go to the Boston office," she sighed.

"Yeah, but the homecomings are worth it," he said as he kissed her.

Laughing she pulled away: "well, your martinis are anyway…"

* * *

Tony stood up and grabbed his jacket, hoping to get to meet up with his date at a convenient location, as he shut down his computer he noticed Natalie stepping off the elevator. With slight bemusement he looked from the stairway behind him to the elevators and then shook his head: "Guess you're getting good at this spook stuff already, Newbie. Didn't see you leave."

"Didn't want you to," she replied tensely as she moved by him and to her desk, pulling open a drawer and dropping her purse into it before kicking it shut. "Want me to finish that report?" she asked moving quickly to his desk, her hand almost extended for the paperwork.

"Boss told me to do it. Thought I needed to get reacquainted with my roots," he said, then watched bemusedly as she dropped her hand, spun around and somehow managed to sauntered over to her desk even as her shoulders sagged .Collapsing into her chair she turned to watch him. "But you're welcome to do the rest from now on, unless you're too busy doing the forensic stuff. I mean, I wouldn't want you to have to double up on them since you have to write up yours and Abby's forensic reports cases as well," he added, flashing her his classic grin.

"Yeah, you're all heart there Alden," she muttered, not realizing that she had slipped and actually called him that to his face as it were, till he went shock still.

"What did you just call me?" Tony asked.

"You apparently heard me quite well _Alden_." she shot back. "Look, like you said I have forensic reports to get done." she said dismissively as she looked away. "Didn't I hear you tell McGee that you had a hot date tonight?"

Frowning, Tony looked her up and down: "what the hell did you and Vance talk about?"

"Why something he shouldn't tell me?" she asked sweetly as she turned away from him and turned on her computer.

"Nothing he'd know about anyway…." Tony mused.

"What was that?"

"Nothing. And yeah… gonna try and make it up to the lucky lady for being late."

"Hmmm… didn't Ziva say she had a hot date tonight too?" she baited.

"Wouldn't know. Don't keep track of David's social calendar," he responded briskly, "And word of advice. Watch what you imply."

"Wasn't implying anything. Just asking a question," she sighed as she scrolled through her e-mails.

"Right. Also, tell your friend Jones to stop dropping in so much. This is a place of business after all."

"He bother you that much?" she asked with a smirk, even though she didn't look at him. Truthfully Vincent only stopped by once a week or so to take her out to lunch or a late dinner. She had a feeling Tony's probably at more to do with his own past and the fact that Vincent worked for IFF and was their liaison with NCIS.

"Nope. Boss just has a rule about dating co-workers," Tony said with a forced smile.

"Rule 12, right?" she asked, looking over her shoulder at him carefully.

"So he had that talk with you already, did he? Took him a lot longer to get around to it with Tim and Ziva."

"And, what? He had it with you on the first day?" she challenged.

"Damn Balsom you sure as hell are in a bad mood tonight," he said trying to figure out what had set the usually even keeled agent off. "Can't take a little teasing?"

"Same could be said about you," she replied sharply as she closed her e-mail account and pulled up the template for a forensics report. "I have work to do."

"Maybe you've been at this too long… cases with kids are always hard…" Tony tried to appease her.

"And kidnapping cases, especially those involving babies, newborns in particular, are going to be one of my triggers. Get used to it," she shot back, then sighed. "Look, Tony, I didn't mean…I had my reasons for doing things the way I did, OK?  
I get that none of you understand it or want to… but that mother deserved to know whether or not that was really her kid as opposed to having a pissed off 19 year old show up on her doorstep down the road wondering why she didn't give a damn enough to find her or why we didn't find the wholes in the case…." Natalie started to ramble apologetically.

"That only happens on Soap Operas, Balsom."

"Actually read about it in a case study I did for class here," she said, then sighed. "Doesn't happen often. Now a days, shouldn't happen at all, but people lie, DiNozzo. They change death certificates or forge death certificates so that their friends can hold onto an adopted kid because they're supposed to be so much better than the birth father and yet they go off the deep end, kidnap the kid instead of sharing custody, and almost cost innocent people their lives.  
They switch a stillborn baby with a live one left in a doctor's office because their mind can't process that there kid is dead and other people cover it up because the other baby was just going to be given up for adoption and the woman's only gotten her mental stability- such as it is- back after a string of really bad luck, and why should she have to bury two children in one lifetime, especially within months of burying a husband?  
They change DNA tests because they don't want to play daddy to a one night stand's kid or make someone else do it because they want the kid to be the child of someone they've obsessed over and not some guy who can't decide if he's in or out of the closet.  
They steal their best friend's kid because they want to hold onto their meal ticket and then when they find their own they take it away from a stable home and extended family because it's their biological right to. It doesn't matter that Mom should be in lockup for kidnapping or Dad for trying to kill someone when he's not in the bottle. Doesn't matter that the other woman was probably suffering from PPD. _It's theirs_. Like property.  
I only made sure the answers where there before it was too late. Before that baby had bonded with someone or that mother gave up hope…." she laughed slightly at the last word: "Hope…shouldn't we all have some of that, Tony, even if it's false?"

"I don't…"

"Go on your date, Tony. Abby catches you fraternizing with me too much and she'll make you pay," Natalie told him tiredly.

"We can get a drink and talk… I'll call McGeek and David…. The boss doesn't even have to know," he said wanting to be compassionate.

"Drinking's what got me here…" she replied morosely.

"Run that by me again?"

Natalie laughed slightly as she turned to him: "forensic tech walks into a bar…" she started, then shook her head. "Story for another time. Go have fun on your date. Don't need a superior agent watching over my shoulder right now."

Smirking, DiNozzo looked down at her: "not that I'm disputing my superiority…"

"I guess I should have said SENIOR agent?"

"Look, you're not McGeek…"

"You just figuring that out?"

Laughing Tony smiled: "you remind me of someone I used to know… might be as good as her at this one day if you can departmentalize."

"Now in my family we call that splitting into alters," she muttered as she turned around.

"Huh…"

"Long story… defies the odds actually. Did my psych thesis on it, not that my family actually knows I have the degree in psychology or how close I was to a law degree…just made sure I didn't…" she shook her head. "I'm babbling and you have a date."

"You sound like you need to talk."

"So I'll make an appointment with Dr. Mallard."

Shaking his head Tony headed to the elevators: "Hey Balsom?" he called back.

"What?"

"Call him Ducky. You've earned the right to, and if anyone questions it, send them to me."

"Forgetting one thing, there, aren't you?"

"What's that?"

"One you're not the boss and two Abby will hurt you for befriending the enemy in her lab."

"Ride with me tomorrow. I got a few tricks other than Caf-Pow I can teach you about staying on Abs good side," he laughed.

"Date Tony. I'm sure she's the type that will hurt you if you keep her waiting too long…"

"She understands when work and friends get in the way."

"So I'm a friend now?"

"As long as you don't keep calling me Alden."

"When you drop the Newbie," she said as she swiveled in her chair: "but don't worry I won't tell anybody else your little secret. Either of them."

"Balsom…."

"Rule 12 Tony," she called. "And the elevator door's going to close sooner than your mouth is going to get picked up off that floor."

* * *

"Since when do you keep the door locked?" Abby asked in a huff as Gibbs opened the door to her.

"Didn't realize it was locked," he remarked as he moved aside to let her into his house.

"The door didn't lock itself, Gibbs," she shot back. "I'm not interrupting anything am I?" she asked as she smelled the sauce.

"Nope. Just finishing making dinner," he replied as he led her into the kitchen.

Dropping her bag on the floor she pouted: "but I was going to treat you to dinner. Even picked up your favorite take out."

"So, I'll put this in containers and put it away for another night," he told her as he moved to the cabinets over his sink and paused for a moment, trying to remember where Natalie had moved the Tupperware to, gaining a mental picture, he opened the cabin-ent as Abby started to pull open a drawer: "that's the wrong cabin-ent…" she started, only to stop short when it wasn't. Looking down perplexed she stared in the drawer: "and where's the silverware?"

"Drawer next to the dishwasher, I think," he replied without thinking.

"You got that monstrosity repaired?" she laughed then stopped. "You replaced it."

"Yeah," he said as he moved to the stove and turned off the sauce and the pasta. "That a problem, Abs?"

"Just… surprised. That broke with wife number what? Two? Three?"

"Don't remember, Abs."

"So why the new one, and why rearrange the kitchen?" she asked him as she watched him move around the room.

"Needed to change a couple of things. Decided to upgrade a few others. Moved things around to make it more convenient."

"Am I one of those things that are going to be replaced Gibbs?" she asked him somberly.

"What?" he asked, his head shooting up. "No, Abs! Why would you even think that."

"Because you have that Balsom woman working in my lab and she's a red head!"

Turning his back Gibbs reached into a cabinet to get two plates down as he replied: "rule 12, Abs."

"Am I being replaced in my own lab?" she asked him again, "because we had a deal. I work alone. Especially after the whole Chip thing!" she reminded him.

"You, Jenny, and I had the deal, Abs," he sighed as he led the way into the dining room and put the plates down on the table. "Besides, Vance already told you this is just…"

"So she can finish her forensic requirements," Abby finished for him as he pulled out a chair for her to take and she put the bag with the takeout on the table. "But do we trust Vance on this?"

"She's a field agent," Gibbs shrugged off as he sat down in the seat next to her. "She also happens to have been close to finishing her forensic rotation at a police department she used to work at. Vance wants her to finish it so that you can have help if the need arises."

"Oh, like she was so helpful with running those DNA samples on the kidnapping case so many times and ways?" Abby asked angrily as she took out the boxes. "You know how much time she wasted?  
How much money.  
Doubt Director Vance will care so much about her finishing when he finds that out!"

"She had her reasons, Abs. Child kidnappings are her trigger case, alright?"

Abby narrowed her green eyes at that: "we all have trigger cases, Gibbs. Don't get to spend that much time and resources on all of them and get away with it."

"She has good contacts that Vance thinks he can use at later dates, and a resume that makes her valuable on certain undercover ops that might come up."

"And she could've gotten the evidence of that cooperate raiding thrown out! We didn't have a warrant for the data she gave us!"

"She called in a favor.  
That saved us time," he sighed as he started to put food onto his plate. "Look you and McGee can't always save the day with last minute tech savvy. She used old fashioned investigation and contacts to make that collar."

"Gibbs, don't you think it's off that even Tony couldn't get that info as fast as she could?"

"Nope."

"Its gotta be the red hair…" Abby muttered.

"Or it could be that she traveled in circles with big tycoons who owe her a few favors that she can call in from time to time."

"She said she worked as her uncle's PA in a police department before entering the forensics program."

"And after…"

"For her grandfather," Abby said with a Duh tone of voice.

"Taking it she didn't mention who her grandfather was or what he did for a living?"

"And I should care, why?" Abby whined. "She's ruining the whole dynamic of the team."

"She's adding a different one, Abby. There is a difference."

"Really? So who's granddaddy and who'd he pay off so Vance would hire her since you know so much?"

"Grandfather's dead.  
Died in his sleep from a heart attack about two years ago."

"Oh…."

"Yeah… Oh," Gibbs sighed. "Look, she'll be out of your lab in a very short amount of time. And, honestly Abs, I thought you'd be happy. You trained her on exactly how you like your lab managed and your babies looked after, you can finally take that vacation to visit your mother you're always complaining you can't. How is Gloria by the way?"

"So not deflecting the subject here, Gibbs.  
And don't you know I don't really want that vacation. I love my mom to death, but at a distance… same as you do Jackson.  
I don't want to be replaced even for a little bit."

"No one can replace you Abs. Come on, you know that."

"I guess…"

"Just cut her some slack. You can grow to like her and the fact that she can follow your forensic speak when none of the rest of us can, and maybe you'll find her as useful as McGee."

"I doubt it."

"You used to love when Kate…"

"That was _Kate_, Gibbs! So not the same thing. And I can't believe you would even suggest…"

Gibbs sighed: "I'm not suggesting anything.  
Balsom is a lot different from Kate.  
She doesn't have her polish or her experience in law enforcement.  
She wasn't a member of the Secret Service, but she is a member of this team Abby, and I'd like it if you'd treat her as such."

"Why? She's not going to be sticking around when she's done with this rotation in my lab," Abby huffed.

"Actually she is. Vance assigned her to my team- and no she's not replacing anyone. He just feels that with us handling so many of the higher profile cases we can use another member in the field. And she does have something different to offer.

Tony has experience as an investigator, as does Ziva, but we both know that neither are good with the emotional stuff. Balsom had that mother calmed down and comfortable enough to talk and give us details we wouldn't have gotten or thought to otherwise.  
She has an edge to her that gets the gang kids to identify with her.  
She can also handle a good old boy quite well.  
Not to mention that once she's qualified to do the forensics, that leaves her helping Ducky and Palmer and do most of the crime scene work while the rest of us to canvas the neighbor for questioning. Makes things go faster and get information all the quicker before people leave the scene or start to forget, or some rookie LEO screws up your evidence and one less person in the chain.  
Look, Abs, she won't be in you lab forever and if you still push it, I'll make sure she doesn't go down there. I would just like to be able to use my team to their best capabilities. Tim has come a long way in the field, but…"

"If you have another member you can leave him back at HQ to help me with the computer stuff and let him do the tracking and tracing from there. Use his computer skills to the fullest," she guessed. "I didn't think of it that way, Gibbs.  
I just…"

"Needed to be reassured that you weren't being replaced?" he teased.

"Yeah. We all need that every now and then, don't we?"

Gibbs smiled: "Abs, you're the only one besides Franks who knows all the fifty rules. Why'd I replace you with someone I have to train to learn them from the get go?"

"Well, when you put it that way, how can a girl resist?"

"You'll always be my girl, Abby. Got it."

"Yes sir."

"Don't call me sir."

"That's not an official rule," she shot back as she stuck out her tongue at him, causing him to laugh.

"Let's eat this before it gets any colder…"

* * *

Natalie sat in the empty bullpen contemplating the information that Vance had given her and the choice he had added to it.

It was up to her and when she was up to handling going forward, but in the meantime she would be putting in extra hours on his special project doing using her forensic psychology and accounting knowledge.  
But all that she could think of was that long ago day at the quarry when she and Jess had talked. When they had truly become sisters- twins. Promised to have each other's backs.  
Sadly, she reached into her desk and took out had wallet and flipped through the few pictures she continued to carry with her: Bre's with Ace's hidden behind it. Joey and Kevin at some family function. Jess and her back when they were in college, before Jess went to stay with Clint.

Staring at the picture she wondered how she could've missed the signs that Vance now told her had been right in front of her, but she knew she wasn't the only one.

The knowledge gave her little comfort.

There was a picture of her and Bo taken at some PDevent by one of the other officers there.  
One of her and Ben, that Renne had given her, that she hadn't known existed.  
Star with Matthew back before Cole had ruined the freindship, a picture of Hope behind it, because a part of her couldn't look at the little girl, with a picture of "Sam" behind that.

And lastly, a picture of her and her father, smiling at the camera at the GO RED BALL they had co-hosted, taken if she recalled right, by Bo.

A sorry state she realized.  
No Roxy or Rex or Gigi and Shane- it seemed Gigi always ran out before she got to her.  
No picture of all of them together- a real family.  
None of Jamie, which she knew she could remedy.  
None of her mother, which she wasn't sure she cared enough to remedy.

And the most heartbreaking of all- none of her and Asa.

Near tears, she dropped her wallet back into her purse and looked at the screen: "Screw it. Do what you think is right. That's what Vance said, isn't it?" she sighed as she reached back into her purse and pulled out her cell phone.

Hitting the preprogrammed number she waited for it to be answered, she was a bit put off by the brusque: "What?" coming from the other end, and had to remind herself that this was a new number that he wouldn't recognize, away to make sure that Charlie couldn't find her.

Swallowing back tears she said softly: "Dad, it's Natalie…. Do you… can you…"

On the other end of the line, Clint sagged against a bale of hay: "Natalie, thank God. Honey are you ok?"

"Yeah, Dad…. I'm ok…. I just…."

"No…. I'm the one… I just heard what Charlie did to you. Why didn't you come to me?"

She laughed slightly: "You were occupied earlier and I was a little embarrassed… I thought Uncle Bo… only…."

"Yeah, your Uncle and I had it out over that one!" Clint said harshly.

"It wasn't his… No one would back me up. Even at the house.  
He was drunk.  
Didn't know what he was doing.  
It was the grief…." she told him in a rambling voice.

"He had no right to put his hands on you in any damned way, Natalie," Clint told her. "And if he wasn't on house arrest I'd have taken your Grandfather's shotgun to him. As it is your Uncle's lucky I didn't do that to him."

"Charlie's on house arrest? For what?"

"It doesn't matter…." Clint deflected. "Are you safe where you are? Happy? Do you have a job or do you need…"

"I didn't call for money," she bristled.

"I didn't mean to imply that you had," Clint sighed as he sunk to the floor. "I guess I just don't know what to do for you. How to help you…"

"I'm safe. I have a good job. It's high security to get in and out so the chances of Charlie getting to me here are minimal, especially with my boss knowing and putting the restraining order in place. Anyone who wants to see me has to be cleared and then they call me from the gate and escort them in.  
I'm finishing my forensic rotation.  
I'll be a field agent, and do some profiling work." she told him with pride. "No one on the team is going to let anything happen to me, we all have each other's backs…" she then added: "And I'm happy. I'm with someone new.  
He's a good man.  
I think Grandpa would have liked him.  
Say he'd make a good Buchanan.  
He knows about…. About that and a lot of other things in my past but he doesn't care. He's made mistakes too.  
For once I'm not someone's second choice and it's not about the money. He didn't know I was a Buchannan when we first got together…."

Clint smiled at the happiness he heard in her voice: "so he treats you right?"

"Wanted to go after Charlie with his Glock. Antonio, Christian, and Fish talked him out of it."

"How?"

"I'm near DC so I see Tonio. Chris, Layla, Fish, and Kyle helped get me out of Landview when… they got me to a doctor who helped me file the report against Charlie and then helped me make it down here. I had already met Jet in Vegas."

"I take it Jet is the new guy in your life?'

"Yeah."

Clint mulled that over, as well as the possibilities of her meeting him in Vegas and decided to let it go. His daughter didn't need a lecture, especially when she sounded happy for the first time in years, maybe even for the first time since he had met her.

With that in mind his decision was made: "Natalie, what I'm going to say might hurt your feelings, and believe me it's going to hurt me to say it. But you can't call me- contact me again."

"But why?" she asked her heart dropping.

"Because I won't take the chance of Banks hurting you again. Of Mitch or someone else…" he broke off.

Natalie nodded silently in her seat: "then we need a message. Something we can give Fish to pass on as a go between. He'd be the most discrete choice."

"You have something in mind because right now I can't think of anything.

I don't want to push you away like this, but I won't be the one who let's them find you and hurt you."

"What was that country song? The one about the girl and her father? Not _The Greatest Words I Never Heard_, because I think, in your own way I finally heard them tonight.  
No, the other one… _Cowgirls Don't Cry."_

Clint frowned: "Doesn't the father die at the end of the song?"

"Planning on doing that anytime soon?" she pallied.

Clint laughed: "Not hardly."

At his words Natalie smiled: "Grandpa used to make me watch that movie with him over and over…" she sighed. "Anyway, if anything ever happened you'd get the message that cowgirls do cry. As long as the line stays the same I'm fine.  
I'll give Fish a line to feed me other than cowgirls don't cry should something happen to you."

"Sounds like a plan."

"Yeah, I guess it does," she replied not liking how final it felt.

"It won't be forever, Natalie.  
Someday I'll be interrogating that young fellow of yours.  
We'll be having family dinners again.  
You'll be _home_.  
And most importantly, you'll be _safe."_

"Right. Not final.  
Not goodbye, but till we meet again.  
From major to minor, right?"

Clint nodded sadly on the other end of the line, knowing neither one wanted to break contact but he had to: "I love you sweetheart, but I have to go now."

"Me too. Ton of paperwork on a case to fill out," she said trying to buckle up. "I love you dad," she said in all but a whisper as she took the phone from her ear and ended the call, tossing the phone into her purse and trying to complete her report through the veil of unshed tears.

In the stable in Landveiw, Clint looked at the phone, saddened to see that she had blocked the number of her call. He slowly walked out and into the night, knowing he had to go back to the main house.  
Looking up at the sky, he shook his head: "Pa, look after my little girl till I can again. And Ben… you were the father to her I wasn't when you were here please help protect her now that I can't…." he said stiffly before walking back to his father's house and a life without his daughter….


End file.
